NY Times: Book Lovers Fear Dim Future for Notes in the Margins
Follow the link, read the article, leave a comment here about it, and there's a mighty good chance there will be a little extra credit in it for you.Oh yeah, check back for other random, unannounced extra credit opportunities this semester, too. You never know what you might find...
4 comments:
Humorous, I for one would be very interested in exactly what Twain had to say in his one-sided arguments. Twain was, of course, the mastermind behind: "In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards."
I would also be very curious to read the margin notes taken by today's political leaders on Machiavelli's The Prince. That would be interesting..
A new hobby to try out in Biology class.
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- I. Parke
This article gave me an entirely new perspective. I for one disagree that textbook marginalia is beneficial. For a recent example, my AP Biology book is laced with all sorts of remarks and highlighted chunks. However, the former owner did not seem to truly grasp the concept of highlight only the IMPORTANT things, which distracts my reading. Also, some marginalia in textbooks is the readers interpretation, which in any other text would be great, yet, when there is one and only one answer to a question, another reader's wrong interpretations can be frustrating and distracting. While it still irks me so when previous text book owners mark in the margins, I now see a way that this marginalia could be valuable. In other texts, I agree that it could add very interesting context and an insight into the time period. However, I still cannot bring myself to mark upon the pages of any of my books for fear of vandalizing a thing that is beautiful on its own.
Katie Frye
I agree that marginalia enhances the way a book is read. It allows me to process all of my thoughts and feelings about the text. I was very excited when I found out that my Kindle allows me to do so and will even save those thoughts as a file I can transfer anywhere.
However, I do not agree with marking in books that are not purely one's own. Library books or textbooks that are reused should not be marked in by others unless in a removable form (and removed), such as sticky notes. Because the text, whatever it may be, is something I am probably reading for the first time I want to experience it without being influenced by the thoughts of others.
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